Astoria Park Carnival to Take Place This Week, Movies in the Park to Screen Over Summer

File Photo

June 5, 2018 By Tara Law

Astoria Park will be lit up with an old-fashioned carnival this week.

The Astoria Park Carnival, which will take place from June 6 to June 10, will offer more than 20 rides, classic carnival games and sugary and savory snacks.

The five-day carnival will feature rides and activities for attendees of all ages. These will include a Ferris Wheel; a Sea Dragon, which features a giant dragon that swings back and forth; a super slide; and bouncy houses.

The fair will also offer an array of sweet and savory carnival food, including gyros, corn dogs, Italian sausages, cotton candy, funnel cakes and deep-fried snacks. Carnival attendees can also buy fresh-squeezed from a lemonade stand shaped like a lemon.

The carnival will take place at Astoria Park’s parking lot, which is located near the intersection of Hoyt Avenue North and 19th St. The carnival will be open Wednesday and Thursday from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m.; Saturday from 12 p.m. to 12 a.m.; and Sunday from 12 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Event admission is free, but tickets for the rides cost $1.50 for a single ticket, $25 for 20, and $50 for 50. The rides are being provided by Dreamland Amusements. Discounts are available on the company’s website.

Then, throughout the rest of the summer, the public can return to the park for seven outdoor showings of new and classic movies.

The free series will begin with a drive-in screening of Grease, a classic musical set in a 1950s-era high school, in the Astoria Park parking lot on June 15 at sundown.

The other screenings will take place on the Astoria Park Great Lawn, between the Hell Gate Bridge and the Astoria Park pool, at sundown.

The film screenings and the carnival are being sponsored by the Central Astoria Local Development Coalition.

The NYC Ferry system is set to undergo a significant expansion in coming months, with the Astoria route, connecting the western Queens neighborhood to Wall Street, getting a new stop at the Brooklyn Navy Yard this spring.

A 24-year-old Brooklyn man who crashed his car on the BQE in 2017 and left a 25-year-old Astoria woman inside his burning vehicle to die was sentenced yesterday to four to 12 years in prison, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office.